Children of Chernobyl
by archergwen
Summary: Episode 2 of my fanfic series
1. Chapter 1

The TARDIS was silent as the Doctor piloted her flight.

Rachel sat quietly off to the side, absentmindedly rubbing the ship's side (She could almost hear a purr, and would've made a joke had the Doctor not been mumbling to himself in deep concentration).

When he too lapsed into silence, finally, Rachel spoke.

"Where are we going?"

"Chernobyl, and as close as I can get to the actual event. Certain events in time are fixed and I can't change them." He smiled. "Pompeii's not so fun on 'volcano day.'"

Rachel shot to her feet. "You've been to Pompeii?"

"No," the Doctor said, a little uneasy, as he seemed to struggle with the controls. "But I've heard enough stories."

"Oh. Well can we go?"

The Doctor nearly shouted the quickly following "No." He paused as the TARDIS rocked. "At least not today. Right now, there seems to be something messing with my girl!" The Doctor moved frantically at the controls and it was all Rachel could do to hold on.

"Good God, Doctor!" she exclaimed when the TARDIS came to a rest. "What the blazes was that?"

"I have no idea."

As he fiddled some more with the buttons, Rachel thought up a very good question:

"Do you always dress like this?" she asked, gesturing to his beige slacks, dress shirt, and waistcoat with the tie tucked underneath.

"Hmm? Oh, pretty much," he replied, slipping on his suit jacket. "Sometimes I wear trainers instead of these. Do you always dress like that?" Rachel looked down at her lifeguard suit and squeaked. "The wardrobe is down the hall somewhere. The TARDIS will help you find it."

She dashed off and in little time she returned, plain white tee and skinny jeans lightly hugging her.

"Really? I think we've landed in Belarus, 1987 approximately."

Rachel cocked an eyebrow as the TARDIS chimed. "She doesn't think so. In fact, she suggested this outfit."

"Wait, are you communicating with the TARDIS? No one has ever done so that quickly. Especially not a human."

Rachel shrugged. "She likes me," she responded, filing away the 'human' comment for later.

With something of a glare at his ship, the Doctor gestured to the exit. "Let's go investigate the Dolphinus terror."

He opened the TARDIS doors and the two stepped into the gloom.

* * *

><p>They had landed in an alleyway. Sidestepping fluttering papers, the Doctor and his companion made their way out to the main street. One page slammed into Rachel's face, and she started to crumple it into her hand.<p>

"Doctor?"

He didn't hear her. He was looking around, trying to decipher clues as were to go. "I tried to land where there'd be the most chance for the aliens to grow-"

"Doctor!"

"What?"

Rachel shrugged in the direction of a nearby teen walking past, cut-up jeans and AC/DC shirt walk past, iPod firmly in her ears and large sunglasses over her eyes. "We're so not in 1987." She started to offer the paper in her hand to the Doctor, but he surged forward and tapped the girl on her shoulder.

Popping her hip, the girl pulled one ear bud out. "Ya?"

"This is going to sound daft, but can you tell me what year it is?"

"Tch. It's two-thousand and twenty, dude. Twenty-twenty's where it's at! Where have you been?" Tossing her hair, the teen put her music back in and walked away.

"2020 in Belarus. Not as bad as some-"

"We're not in Belarus." Rachel offered the Doctor the paper that had flown in her face.

"The Kiev Times?"


	2. Chapter 2

Rachel was excited to be in the future. "I can't believe I'm thirty years old. Can we go meet me? Ah, that'd probably cause a paradox. Can we at least float invisible over my house? Because my boyfriend has this crazy idea that when he gets a stable career we'll get married and move to Ireland. And I'm not so sure about that second bit. Oh! I wonder if I ever finish that novel-"

"Rachel!"

"Yeah Doctor?"

"What do you know of the Chernobyl disaster?"

Her feet naturally slipped into 3rd position and with hands clasped behind her back, Rachel replied, "Saturday, April 26th, 1986, reactor 4 of the Chernobyl plant near the town Prypiat experienced a power surge. When they tried to go into emergency shutdown, the situation worsened and the reactor exploded, causing several fires. The smoke plume extended over much of Europe, and it is hypothesized that most of the radiation fallout contaminated Belarus."

The Doctor's head titled. "Really? You knew all that off the top of your head?"

She flashed a smile and bopped him lightly on the nose. "Double major at Hillsdale College, English and History with focus in modern European history, minor in French language."

His jaw went slack. "Really? I'd think a lifeguard would be more science and math oriented, what with first aid and all."

"Just because two managers and twelve guards moved on to be nurses and doctors, and one manager is now a middle school science teacher-" Rachel laughed. "My first guard friend is now a comic book artist and another is at the Julliard. But there's definitely a curve."

The Doctor mused over this new development in character and resolved to reserve judgments in the future.

Rachel tapped his arm. "Where are we going to find these monsters?"

"Hmm. No clue."

* * *

><p>So they wandered about the slums of Kiev for several hours, looking down every alley for "something fishy."<p>

As the Doctor and Rachel walked about, they discussed their lives, fleshing out the back story. He was nearly 200 years old, while she had just turned 21 three months earlier to meeting the Doctor. The TARDIS was older than he was (ancient technology by his people's standards when it was nicked) and he had not yet been in all her rooms.

"I think she's purposefully hiding a few."

"A lady keeps her secrets," quipped Rachel in response. She could almost hear the TARDIS chime in agreement.

"It is strange though, that you, a human, have established a telepathic connection with the TARDIS. And faster than I did too."

Rachel cocked an eyebrow. "I told you. She likes me. Now, Doctor, why do you keep calling me a human? Aren't you-" Another piece of paper flew into her face. "Why the face? Why, oh why great wind?" she complained, peeling off the PSA asking for donations to go to a care home for kids affected by the radiation of Chernobyl.

"Still?" asked the Doctor, taking the paper from her.

"Doctor? If you were a terrifying monster trying to breed, where would you hide?"

Blue eyes sad, the Doctor met Rachel's grim green ones.


	3. Chapter 3

"What do you want?" snapped the plump woman who answered the door.

"We're here about the children."

She rolled her eyes. "Good Lord, not another set of reporters? Honestly, the forty-fifth anniversary was last year and there's another four to the fiftieth year since the explosion. And yes, there are still kids being born that have defects directly related to the radiation fallout. Not as many as years past, thank the Lord, but still enough to merit me. Now good day."

"Ma'am, we're not reporters," said Rachel before the door closed.

"Then what are you?"

"Travelers," answered the Doctor. "Travelers with a heart for children. I'm the Doctor and this is Rachel. We won't be in Kiev for long, but surely there's something we can do to help for today."

The woman heaved a sigh of relief. "Oh please come in."

* * *

><p>Rachel opened a door to find four girls sitting in their beds or wheelchairs. They turned their huge brown eyes to her. "Have you come to play?" one asked sweetly.<p>

"Yes. I have."

* * *

><p>"Nice family," he said, nodding at a picture on the mantle as the Doctor took the offered cup of tea and a sip. "I do have some questions."<p>

"I thought you would." The sound of laughter filtered through the floor. "Your companion has brought more than one room together. She's a blessing; she really is. Those kids don't get a lot of joy on the weekends. I give my permanent volunteers Saturdays and Sundays off for themselves. One girl still comes in. I don't think she has any family. She'll be along later. I sent her for groceries."

"I wasn't lying when I said I wasn't a reporter. But I am digging for clues. Tell me, have there been any defects that show up in more than one child?"

The woman shrugged. "It is statistically impossible. But yes, there are repeated defects. Four or five children have brown eyes larger than any of a normal human. Their hands are permanently clenched into fists, though as two have grown up they've loosened a bit. And they have no toes and a reddish tint to their skin."

"Hmm. Well, thank you for the tea. If you don't mind, I'm going to go join the party."


	4. Chapter 4

Rachel and the children were deep in a game of charades when the Doctor slipped in. The kids were trying to guess what Rachel was.

After a few minutes watching Rachel flop around like a dying duck, the Doctor calmly guessed, "Gallifrey."

The lifeguard and most of the children looked at him like he had suddenly grown two heads. But the four girls and one boy with eyes far too large merely scoffed and shook their heads. "Silly," one of the girls said. "Gallifrey doesn't have wings."

One of the kids finally guessed Daffy Duck and raced up to lopsidedly try his hand.

Rachel slipped over to the Doctor. "What is Gallifrey? Or who?"

"Gallifrey is the home planet of the Time Lords-" "What the Dolpinus mentioned?" "-Yes. And no human child would know of Gallifrey – remind me to tell you about it some time – but any smart nanny would teach her charges about the planet."

The lifeguard nodded. "Sometime you must tell me not just about Gallifrey, but about you being non-human yourself."

The Doctor smiled. "An astute observation."

"I gathered from your talk you weren't from Nebraska."

They chuckled a little as one of the alien children took their turn at the front. Neither of them noticed the teen in sunglasses backing silently away to dart back down the stairs.

* * *

><p>When the Doctor and Rachel managed to herd the children down the stairs for dinner, they were forced into their own chairs by the kindly lady. She managed to shush the kids to say a quick prayer before they burst into noise again. Sighing loudly, she slipped into the kitchen.<p>

She came back balancing plates of meager food on her arms.

The children chorused, "Thank you, Ms. Katarina!"

Right behind her came the teen from earlier, sunglasses still on. Rachel stifled a gasp and nudged the Doctor. He nodded, acknowledging her.

The girl served the two travelers and the children next to them and vanished back into the kitchen.

"So Doctor," began Katarina, "what exactly are you a doctor of?"

"Fun."

Rachel stifled a laugh in her glass of water.

As the conversation turned to other things less likely to excite the children and Katarina started to herd them upstairs, the teen returned to gather empty plates. And the Doctor noticed her skin. "Rachel," he whispered. "Does she look a little red to you?"

The teen's head whipped towards the Doctor and he smiled at her, friendly. "Rachel?" he asked as the girl slunk into the kitchen.

"Yes?"

"Do you promise to do what I say?"

Rachel shrugged. "Within reason."

"Great. So when I tell you to run, you will, right? Good."

"Wait, what?"

But the Doctor was already up from his chair and slipping into the kitchen.


	5. Chapter 5

_He will not find me. He must not find me._

The girl in the sunglasses had grown up with stories of the Doctor, or the Oncoming Storm as the foolish Daleks call him; the Man Who Changed his Face was what her mother preferred.

_They are still too young, still too young. They cannot all be moved yet._

It was only the Doctor she had been told to be on guard against. "Only he can stop you. And you can never be sure who he is, or when he will turn up. So hide, hide yourself. And do not reveal your heritage."

But she was too young. Her children were too young. And they had given up their knowledge too easily. They had not yet learned fear and how anger and fear go hand in hand.

As she curled up in a corner, out of the Doctor's sight, her skin turned to darker shades of red.

"Doctor?" Rachel followed him into the kitchen.

"Rachel. I don't suppose you've heard of the Khole?"

She shook her head. "My education has not included the various alien species of the 'undiscovered' universe." She paused. "It does sound familiar."

The Doctor was scanning the room with his sonic screwdriver. "The French word for anger, 'colère,' comes from the Greek word for anger, 'kholê.' I'll bet you ten quid the Greeks met this race. They're humanoid. They age on your clock until about age seventeen, and then they can live for a hundred years without aging a visible day."

"Like you."

"If my skin turned red every time I was angry or threatened and I turned into a mindless ball of fury, yes she's like me. Their eyes are very large and when too young to fend for themselves, their hands are clenched into fists."

Rachel's lips formed a small 'o' of comprehension. "The children-"

"Are young ones, yes. And I think the serving girl is the mother-" He was interrupted as she burst from a corner, beet red and hands clenched. "Run!"

They darted back out, through the dining room, and out the foyer, the Khole racing after them, yelling.

"What's she saying?" Rachel shouted to the Doctor, trying to keep up.

"Nonsense!"

"Figures," she muttered as she dug in and picked up her pace.

The Doctor led them through the streets of Kiev, trying to find the TARDIS. "Hey," said the Doctor, unnaturally cheery. "She's yelling about her children. She knows what's she's doing is wrong." He seemed to be laughing.

Rachel just shook her head and ran after him.

As she turned corner after corner after the Doctor with the TARDIS never coming into sight, Rachel could hear the heated, angry breathing of the Khole after her and gaining.

The idea smacked her across the face and Rachel slowed down, wheeling at the right lucky moment to land the heel of her hand into the nose of the angry Khole. And the girl went down.

"Really?" the Doctor almost shouted as he turned in shock to Rachel and the downed Khole. "An angry mama bear and you just punch her in the nose? You humans." He knelt down beside the Khole. "She's out like a light. What did you do?"

Rachel shrugged. "I figured I should get her before she got me."

The Doctor sighed.


	6. Chapter 6

The Khole was furious to be bound on her ship and headed back.

"I am two hundred years old! I am the mother of these children and I say what happens to them!"

The Doctor laughed in her face. "I've locked your autopilot. Your children will be dropped off on their home planet and you will be headed straight for the Shadow Proclamation. Using a Category 5 planet for breeding is against the law."

"But my children," she hissed. "They need their mother!"

The five stood in the sheltering shadows of Rachel and Katarina who didn't want to let go, even after all the shock.

"You should've thought about that earlier."

"The radiation here! It's good for them. Unlike you weakling humans." She snarled.

"Newsflash, Khole," snapped the Doctor. "I'm not human! But I have a warm place in my heart for Earth, so I will not stand idly by while some prissy miss walks all over the Shadow Proclamation like she owns the universe. I'm the Doctor. Look me up when you get to prison."

He turned to the children. "You can go to your mother. She won't hurt you; you're her children."

"We don't want to go," said one of the oldest. "We don't want to be angry all the time."

"Yeah," piped up the boy. "We want to stay with Katarina. We want to be human."

The Doctor smiled. "Sometimes wanting is all it takes." He pulled out his screwdriver and started messing with wires on the outside of the Khole's ship again. "Straight to the Shadow Proclamation you go. Be a dear and tell them the Doctor sent you."

He closed the door to her shouts and the ship vanished.

"Well," began Katarina. "Let's go in for tea."


	7. Chapter 7

"Thank you Doctor, and Rachel. I'm not sure what happened and probably never will be, but I'm glad I don't have to lose five of my wards to space."

"No thanks necessary," replied the Doctor, turning a little pink. Rachel had dragged him into tea and now he tried to hide his embarrassment in his teacup while his companion wandered the salon before coming to rest against the mantle.

"You are very modest," Katarina replied.

"Excuse me," Rachel interjected softly, reaching for a picture. "Who is this?"

A man stood tall in the photo, his left arm hooked around the shoulders of a young girl who looked nothing like him. He had dark hair and stormy eyes haunted with sadness though the corners twitched with laughter. She, barely twelve, was fair of hair and face with joy etched all over.

"Ah. That is my youngest great-nephew, Sean Kelly, and his adopted daughter Mab."

"Adopted?"

Katarina nodded, setting her teacup down with a soft chink. "It's a strange story. Nine years ago, the RIRA, the Real Irish Republican Army, bombed Dublin where Sean was studying at DCU, Dublin City University. In the confusion, he vanished. The boy was terrible at cell phone use but he never would have let us fear he was dead unless something was happening. Three days later, he showed up, Mab in his arms barely three. It had only been three days, but it seemed as if he had aged three years."

Rachel set the picture back and started for her tea.

"Of course, he didn't know that the day before the bombing his girlfriend of five years had disappeared herself, never to return."

Her knees buckled and she nearly fell. Both the Doctor and Katarina made towards her, but she waved them off. "I'm fine; I'm fine. I just feel a little off. I think I'm going to back to the-" she paused "-car and take a nap. Yeah, that sounds good."

"You sure you can find your way?"

"Thank you Doctor, I'm sure."

The Doctor delayed less than ten minutes in following after Rachel. He had to say goodbye to all the children, thank Katarina again, and pry himself from the vise-like grip of one of the tots.

* * *

><p>The TARDIS was dark when the Doctor quietly opened the door and stepped inside.<p>

"Rachel?"

He was greeted with a soft sob.

"Rachel?" She was curled up near the console, as if she was trying to hide from the world. "Rachel, what's wrong? Please tell me."

She lifted her tear-stained cheeks to look him in the eye, her voice hard. "We're going to Ireland. Now."


End file.
